While things are going kinda worrisome for Dakota back at home, and she's dealing with a bunch of issues and side-effects from her coma that she's not sure how to process, back in Cerulean City Akira is facing some trials of his own! How's the training going?

KedharS: So do I. She's really gone through a lot. I just want her to have her happy ending already and not have to deal with all this.

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: That's one way to think about it.

JoshGamerV: Maybe.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 839

"Come on, Sparky! You can do it!" Akira called. He and Sparky were fighting against Misty and her Staryu, a pokemon that was a much better fit to train against. Misty was doing an excellent job of monitoring Staryu's power levels as well, keeping them just at the right levels for Sparky to struggle against, but not fruitlessly.

Misty had battled against Akira several times since that first day, and unlike their first battle, she was taking things easy on him. Not because she didn't have respect for his ability as a pokemon trainer, not at all! It was because she had so much respect for his abilities that she had the decency to properly value his level of skill, and fight on equal ground with him so he could get the most out of their sparring matches.

If Misty fought with her full strength, there was certainly growth to be obtained. But it would be more beneficial to him, and provide the most opportunity for growth, if he struggled against an opponent he had a significant chance of winning against.

And it was working quite well.

"Staryu, use psybeam!" Misty ordered.

"Star!" Her Staryu cried, firing a rainbow-colored beam of light from the tip of their point, the eerie ray arcing straight for Sparky.

"Sparky, dodge it and use electro ball!" Akira shouted. Sparky ducked to the side, the psybeam bursting harmlessly against the water.

"Chinchou!" Sparky raised his antenna and began building up electricity within them, gathering it into an orb of pulsing electricity. He flung the ball forward and it zigzagged across the water, headed right towards the Staryu.

The electro ball struck a large red barrier of light that surrounded Staryu, dispersing the orb of energy into a wave of sparks dancing over the pool. Staryu had managed to effortlessly displace the move with their light screen.

Misty smirked. She had expected that, of course, which was why she'd had Staryu set up a light screen the moment the match began. The battle was an excellent testing ground for Akira to fight with the Chinchou and get used to his Electric type attacks, but she couldn't just let those attacks faint her pokemon, either.

For similar reasons, Akira had decided not to use thunder wave. It would probably mean he would win, but it wouldn't be as much of a test if he was fighting against an opponent that, from the start, was paralyzed almost instantly.

"I've gotta say, the fact that your girlfriend's Chinchou has Water Absorb for his ability is a bit of an annoyance," Misty admitted, cracking a smile. "Not that I would have used Water type moves against him in the first place, but still, it does make things a lot more tricky."

"I think that's why Dakota likes him so much," Akira replied. "See, her Manectric has the ability Lightning Rod, so she already has a pokemon capable of nullifying Electric type moves. It would be kind of redundant if Sparky had Volt Absorb on top of that, don't you think?"

He wisely chose not to mention that the reason Dakota had caught Sparky was almost-certainly because Akira had several Water type pokemon and pokemon with Water type moves, and Dakota had caught him at a time when she wanted to be as spiteful as possible towards him.

"It does give me some tricky ways to fight, I'll say that much," Misty said, nodding in agreement. "Not using Water type moves is always a bit of a limiter! But we've got it covered, right, Staryu? We won't lose to an ability like that!"

"Staryu!" Staryu agreed. They sprung out of the water and hovered above the surface, spinning in the air and glowing. A wave of shining stars of light shot out of their spines, cutting through the air and turning towards Sparky.

"Sparky!" Akira cried, thinking fast. Sparky couldn't dodge a swift attack, no one could. So the next thing to do was help Sparky endure the attack as best as he could. "Quick, Sparky, use charge to boost your defenses!"

"Chin!" Sparky nodded, curling up into a ball. He began to throb with electricity, building up a current around his body that increased his special defense, protecting him. The stars burst against him and cut into his scales, but he bit down on his lip and did his best to endure them.

"Nice work, Sparky!" Akira called out, making sure to encourage Sparky as best as he could. It was a great way to help him fight, while not being too critical. Sparky was used to a more lax hand in Dakota, and he didn't want to be too forceful.

"Chinchou!" Sparky chirped, pleased by the compliment. He swam forward in the water, his antenna shining brightly as he approached Staryu.

"Great work, now, use spark!" Akira ordered.

"Oho! Switching to a physical move to get around light screen, huh?" Misty applauded. "Nice thinking, but that won't be enough! Staryu, use minimize!"

Staryu shrunk down their body to make a smaller target for Sparky to hit. But Akira didn't mind that. He smiled and Sparky and nodded encouragingly.

"It's okay, Sparky! You don't have to worry about their size! We've got the water on our side, after all, and that's gonna to the work for us!" Akira cheered. He was right on the money. The electricity currently surging through Sparky wasn't remaining sealed into his body from his charge, it was being discharged across the water, the sparks striking against the light screen and serving as a beacon to indicate Sparky's target.

Misty was amazed. "Wow! Nicely done, Akira! I wouldn't have even thought of that!"

At Staryu's current size, there was no way they could move fast enough to dodge the approaching Chinchou now that Sparky had set his eyes on a target. He slammed right into the Water type pokemon, filling it with all the electricity he had stored, sending them flying through the water.

"I figured that Chinchou are used to using their lights to guide their way underwater, right?" Akira said, thinking back to one of the first lessons he'd learned from Misty. "So their eyes are probably good at spotting lights. When I realized that, it was a pretty logical strategy to come up with, don't you think?" He asked.

Misty was overwhelmed by the move. It wasn't game-ending, but it was definitely a nice display of both Sparky's power, and Akira's ingenuity. For once, she was at a loss for words. She could only compliment him with a "nicely done."

The time for niceties was over, though. Staryu wasn't out of this yet! Akira had pulled off some fancy planning, but that wouldn't beat them!

"Staryu!" Misty shouted. "Use power gem!"

"Star!" Staryu had recovered admirably from the powerful spark they'd been struck with, propelling their body through the water towards their opponent. As they did, their gem core began to glow bright red, and more red gems appeared in the air around them, glowing brightly and flying at Sparky from all directions.

"Sparky, dodge!" Akira ordered.

Sparky ducked down beneath the surface and zigzagged under the water, trying to avoid the shining gemstones pelting down on him. But he wasn't able to outrun them all. One struck him in the back and caused him to flinch, and that opened the doors for the rest, which began to rain down upon him painfully.

"Sparky!" Akira cried.

Sparky pulled to the surface, battered badly. Misty winced. The attack had been a critical hit, and it looked like a bad one. But this was part of training for battle, and she wasn't about to go easy just because the Chinchou hadn't gotten used to fighting yet.

"They're weakened, Staryu, get him with your swift attack so he can't dodge!" She ordered, eager to see what Akira would come up with next. She doubted that his charge strategy to boost Sparky's defenses would work a second time.

"Staryu!" Staryu hopped out of the water and began to spin, sending a barrage of sparkling starts right at the injured pokemon.

Akira had to think fast. The first idea that crossed his mind was that if Sparky couldn't endure the hit, he needed to deflect it.

"Quick, use bubblebeam to create a protective barrier around yourself, Sparky!" He shouted. Sparky opened his mouth and created a wide curtain of bubbles to shield him from the incoming swift attack as best as he could.

Misty gave him props for quick thinking, but it was far from a winning strategy. "Not bad, Akira, but you won't be able to block all of them," she called. And indeed, she was proven correct. The shining stars burst against the bubbles and unleashed a chain of explosions that managed to shatter most of them, but a few on the fringes managed to sneak through.

"Chinchou!" Sparky wailed, the stars cutting into him. But he wasn't going to let it beat him. He swam forward, building up electricity in his antenna.

"Oh?" Misty gasped, curious.

"Sparky?" Akira asked, not sure what Sparky was doing. He hadn't given any orders.

"Chinchou!" Sparky discharged the electrical current that he'd built up into the swimming pool, striking Staryu. Staryu withstood the attack with the protection of their light screen, but it was clear that the barrier wouldn't hold out forever.

"Wow, way to go, Sparky!" Akira cheered, surprised by the action but not disappointed in the least. He hadn't given him an order, but Sparky had done quite a good job.

"Powerful electricity, but will it be enough?" Misty asked, shielding her eyes from the bright light. The light screen was being battered by the discharge attack, and while it was going to hold, it was starting to weaken.

But that wasn't what Misty was concerned with.

The light screen created a protective bubble around Staryu, surrounding them on all sides. The bolts would cause it to shatter eventually, but the bigger problem was the fact that as long as the light screen was up, Staryu wouldn't be able to move efficiently. They were essentially hemmed in by the lightning and the barrier.

Misty was lucky though. Sparky wasn't strong enough yet. If he could have kept it going longer, or if he'd had the opportunity to build up his electricity with a charge attack, that would be one thing. But at his current level he could only release the electrical discharge for a limited amount of time, and it wasn't enough to break the light screen.

When the electricity died down, it was the perfect opportunity for Misty and Staryu to attack!

"That was a good play, Akira, but not good enough! Swift!" Misty ordered.

"Staryu!" Staryu fired another barrage of stars at the exhausted Chinchou, knocking him out and concluding the match.

Akira sighed, recalling Sparky to his pokeball. They had been doing so good, too. But as disappointed as he was, he was proud, too. Sparky had really grown a lot in that battle, and had even taken some initiative himself. "That was a great job you did, Sparky," Akira said encouragingly, patting the pokeball. "We'll get her next time."

Misty walked over to Akira, and shared her comments.

"To start, I think you did a really good job," Misty said. She wanted to give him the good comments before she went over the issues. "Especially with that spark attack. You and Sparky were working on a great wavelength, and you made great use of your knowledge of Chinchou. It was an excellent attack, I'm proud of how far you've come since our first battle!"

Akira felt his chest swell with pride. Even though he had lost, Misty had this way of encouraging him that made him feel like a winner.

"…Buuuuuut… there were some other things I noticed," Misty added.

His heart sunk at that. She also had a way of making him feel disappointed, too.

"…What was it?" Akira asked warily.

"It's not anything you did, not… exactly," Misty said. "You were doing a great job, as usual. It's more like… well, it was what happened at the end, with Sparky, when he used his discharge attack on Staryu without your orders."

"What about it?" Akira asked.

"Well, it wasn't our training," Misty reminded him. "We're trying to get the two of you used to working together. It's nice that Sparky is getting more used to fighting, but remember, he shouldn't make big moves like that without you ordering him to. You saw what happened, right? He got mad and used all his strength, exhausting himself and opening the door for Staryu to defeat him."

Akira thought about what she was saying. She was exactly right. "Yeah, definitely. I guess he just kinda lost his cool. I need to get better control over him."

"You two are doing fine, don't worry about it," Misty grinned. "For now, you can work on training with your other pokemon, while I take this little guy to get healed up, okay?" She suggested, taking Sparky's pokeball.

Akira nodded. He was fine with that. She turned to leave, and as she did, Akira felt something hit him in the back of his head.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Sylvia standing a few feet away. She tossed some gravel from one of the beach enclosures into the air just to emphasize that yes, it was her.

Akira sighed. He had a pretty good idea what this was about.

"Misty!" He called, running after her.

"Oh? Did you need something else?" Misty asked, confused.

"Um… it's about… our trip," Akira whispered, walking closer to her.

Misty sighed. "Look, Akira, I know you and Sylvia think it would be nice to sightsee, since you guys probably don't get to go to Kanto very often. But this isn't some field trip, you know. You guys are here to study, and I can't have you spending your break wandering around the region. As long as you stay in Cerulean City, that's fine, but anywhere else…"

"No, that's not good enough," Akira said, shaking his head.

Misty scowled. Her good will was quickly disappearing. "Listen, Akira, I like you, but I'm not going to bend the rules just for your sake. I told you, you can't go to another city, or even leave the city limits, not unsupervised. I'm responsible for you two, do you understand that?"

"Yes, of course I understand that," Akira said. "But… you don't understand, this is really important!" He needed to tell her. He didn't want to, but he didn't have a choice. He'd been hoping to keep this private, but…

If he wanted to get to Lavender Town, the only chance he had was if he told Misty the truth about what had happened to Dakota and why they had come here, and the reason he needed to go to Lavender Town.

He was going to tell her the truth, and hopefully she would see his side of things. Misty was a nice person, even if she could be a little strict. That was why he hoped that she would believe him when he asked for her help.

Sylvia watched from afar, looking at the strained expression on Akira's face with a broad smile. This was exactly what she'd wanted. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, but she knew that Akira was probably telling the truth.

It was what he was best at, after all. And it was the sort of thing that she was going to make use of to suit their needs.

If Misty was the kind of woman Sylvia could see that she was, she would fall for the sob story hook, line, and sinker.

Just as Sylvia had predicted, by the time Akira finished explaining things, Misty was in tears.

"That… Akira, I don't even know what to say," she cried, wiping her eyes. She was blubbering like a baby. "Having to go through all of that… knowing what happened to your girlfriend, and not knowing if she would ever wake up… and your Gyarados, too, mutating like that… no wonder you didn't want to use her in battle…!"

"Yeah, that's why Sylvia and I need to go to Lavender Town," Akira said, nodding. He felt dirty. Like he was manipulating her somehow, even though he was just using the truth to convince her. He caught Sylvia's smirk out of the corner of his eye.

Yeah. That's why I feel so dirty… Akira knew she had gotten him to do her dirty work. And he couldn't even complain, because it was going to benefit him, too.

It was shit like this that pissed him off. He wanted to smack her across the face he was so mad at her for manipulating him into manipulating Misty. But he couldn't lose his temper and squander Misty's good will, he needed to focus on what was important.

Misty quickly captured his attention.

"Come here you poor boy!" She sobbed, sweeping Akira into a tight hug, squeezing him so tightly he could barely breathe. Akira flushed scarlet, Sylvia the furthest thing from his mind right now. All he could focus on was the soft, rubbery texture of Misty's swimsuit-clad chest pressing through his shirt, and the faint scent of chlorine that she carried around her constantly.

"So, um… Misty… about… Lavender Town…" Akira mumbled out, not exactly sure how he should phrase his question without sounding like he was trying to manipulate her.

Misty pulled back and knelt down, wiping her face clean with some pool water. When she stood back up she had gathered herself and was ready to take this seriously, all business once again.

"Okay, after hearing your story, I get it," Misty said quietly, placing a comforting hand on Akira's shoulder. She gave him a kind smile. "I totally understand why you feel like you need to go to Lavender Town."

Akira refrained from getting too hopeful. The tone of her voice was warm and gentle, but the words she was saying were rather tense. He didn't want to get his hopes up as he waited for a "but" to come through her lips.

"…But…"

He winced. There it was. Right on cue. He had to prepare for the worst.

"…But I still can't let you and Sylvia go to Lavender Town on your own. Like I said before, you two are my responsibility, and it's my job to keep you safe," Misty reminded him.

There it was. Even telling the truth wasn't enough to change her mind on this. Akira hung his head and sighed.

"…So that's why I'm going to come with you two, to make sure that nothing happens," Misty grinned, jamming her thumb into her chest.

"…What?" Akira gasped, not sure if he'd heard correctly. There was no way she'd just said what he thought she'd just said, right?

Was she seriously telling him that she was going to come with him and Sylvia to Lavender Town?

Yeah, I think that's what it sounded like, Akira. Now that's going to make for quite an interesting trip, wouldn't you say?